Working Together

Aesop was a Greek slave and storyteller who left us quite a legacy – some 160 fables. One of those simple stories has a very important message for those of us standing against overreaching Washington D.C. powerbrokers.

A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.

United we stand, divided we fall.

The American colonists rallied around this idea as they faced down tyranny from the British Crown. I’m sure you’ve seen the famous political cartoon representing the colonies as a snake cut into segments with the motto “Join or Die” inked by Benjamin Franklin.

Here in America, we can find plenty of ways to divide ourselves. Splitting up and yelling at each other across the aisle is almost like a national sport. Left versus right. Liberal versus conservative. Republican versus Democrat. Tea Partier versus Occupier. On and on it goes.

But at some point, we need to realize we all face a common enemy – a political class in Washington D.C. that wants to hold power over all of us. Of course, they play the game in D.C. too. It makes for good political theater and keeps us all sniping at each other. Meanwhile, they come together and agree on some pretty horrendous things – like the president should have the power to indefinitely detain people without due process – or even murder them. Or that they have some divine right to poke their nose into every corner of our lives…for our protection, of course.

I think the continued revelations about NSA spying are making a lot of people aware of this.

No matter what side of the political spectrum we fit into, I think we can all agree that the federal government shouldn’t be able to spy on its own people without constitutional justification. Left or right, Republican or Democrat, we all value our privacy. And we all recognize that the Fourth Amendment draws a pretty clear line in the sand when it comes to just how far the feds can go when snooping around for evidence. They have to have probable cause. They have to have a warrant. And they have to tell us exactly what they are looking for.

The NSA can’t be bothered with any of that. Spies scoop up data and analyze it as they see fit, hoping they will find something. The British used to do the same thing. Judges would issue “general warrants.” They contained no specifics and were open ended. They allowed British agents to enter homes or businesses on a whim to look for evidence of smuggling.

Americans went to war to end that kind of tyranny. Now its been resurrected in the name of fighting terrorism.

It’s time for us to unite and push back.

We may disagree on 30 other issues, but we can all agree on this: the NSA shouldn’t be snooping around in our private lives. So, let’s get together and stop them.

There is power in numbers.

Did you see those veterans picking up the barricades in front of the Word War Two memorial, hauling them off and dumping them in front of the White House the other day? One or two guys couldn’t have pulled it off. But several thousand did.

We have the opportunity to apply that kind of unity and power to something a lot more important than opening up some monuments. We have a plan to shut down NSA spying at the state and local level. But it’s going to take some unity. It’s going to take putting aside some differences and working together. It’s going to take YOU reaching across the aisle and grabbing the hands of the brothers and sisters you often squabble with, looking them in the eye and saying, “On this, we stand together.”

TRX: Tenther Radio is broadcast every Wednesday evening at 9pm Eastern and 6pm Pacific.Host Michael Boldin, along with rotating guest hosts Lesley Swann, Nick Hankoff, John Lambert and others talk with top experts, newsmakers, and tenther activists every week.Stream the broadcast LIVE at radio.tenthamendmentcenter.com